New Direction For Mobile Library

Auckland City’s Community Development
Committee has approved changes to the mobile library bus
service to target wider interest groups within existing
budgets.

The changes, which include retiring one of the
mobile library buses for a year on a trial basis, will start
at the end of January 2001.

Community Development
Committee chairperson Councillor Penny Sefuiva says, “I am
pleased that the Community Development Committee has now
reviewed this matter. The existing service is costly,
poorly targeted and delivers to a very narrow customer
base.”

A revamped service will see the retention of 70%
of existing customers and will also have the added
flexibility for developing new services for older adults and
others. “The advantage for all concerned here is that it is
a 12 month trial with the option to review it at the end of
that period, and that we can effectively target new groups
who may be missing out on a library service,” she
says.

Councillor Sefuiva says that most of the debate
centres on the whether people will miss out on access to a
mobile library. “To maintain the status quo the mobile
service is costing us $122.25 per person annually which,
frankly, is untenable. The option chosen will cost $30.92
per person and have the advantage of allowing us to look
specifically at the diverse needs of communities,” she says.

“We really need to move with the times and look at how we
can meet these changing needs. We need a service that truly
represents the beginning of an expanded and accessible
service to older adults, and one that also has wide
potential to expand its customer base.”

Libraries will
now examine the options, looking specifically at improved
targeting to a wider group of housebound and rest home
elderly, while maintaining access for most existing
customers and improving access to others. “It’s an exciting
challenge to improve an historic service that, sadly, is
really only servicing a tiny proportion of older folk and
very limited numbers of children.”

Councillor Sefuiva
says that libraries have to look at both economic and social
benefits and make correct strategic decisions, which will
influence their style of delivery and their relevance to
communities in the future. “It is my view that library
staff must have the flexibility to respond to the changing
needs of a large city. They must remain pertinent,
accessible and competitive in the fast developing knowledge
economy today.”

The new service will be monitored and
opinions gauged from community feedback on the changes to
routes and other access requirements. “We will not be
deserting the older adults and the housebound, and will look
at every aspect that will improve the service. This may
even include a six or seven day mobile service,” says
Councillor Sefuiva. Covering similarly sized geographical
areas, Auckland City has more libraries than either Manukau
City or North Shore City. Manukau City only operates one
mobile library bus.

A new timetable for the remaining
mobile library bus will be available in the New Year and
will start on Tuesday, January 30, 2001.

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